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I remember the fall of my freshman year in college my mom and I decided to make butternut squash soup from scratch. We picked out a recipe, went to the store and bought all the ingredients, set them all out on the counter and started prepping. I got out the butcher knife to cut the squash and could barely even puncture it. Once I finally got it in at the top I tried pushing it down and couldn’t, and my mom tried and couldn’t, so my dad had to come chop it up. It took him forever. So when I found this recipe for butternut squash soup, I knew I didn’t want to buy a squash (plus, there’s always some left over and it goes bad really fast).

At Walmart in their Market Fresh section (by the produce) they have prepackaged products made by Walmart (this is where I get my pre-made guacamole). In this section they have packaged, cubed butternut squash that comes in a bag and you can steam it in the microwave. Each bag was $2.40 and I needed two bags (1.5 lbs.) for this recipe. I had most of the other ingredients so it was worth it, and I knew the soup would take a while to make and wanted to cut time wherever I could. Now I know you can microwave a butternut squash first before you cut it, but the bags still save time because you just steam them fast in the microwave.

3 1/2 cups chicken broth (I used chicken bullion and made the broth, but my stew turned out THICK so use at least 4 cups. I used the bullion because I already had it, but it’s better to use fresh broth)

Transfer the chicken thighs to a plate and allow to cool. Pour broth into a medium-sized bowl.

Return the saucepan to the stovetop and lower heat to medium. Add olive oil.

While chicken is cooking, add onionbell pepper to another saucepan with olive oil and cook, stirring occasionally. When about halfway cooked, add onions until onion is starting to turn brown, 8 to 10 minutes until onions are almost translucent. (Peppers take longer to cook than onions. If you want any of your veggies a bit crunchy, don’t cook them as long. But if you want everything cooked thoroughly, put the peppers in first)

Stir in reserved chicken broth and quinoa. Bring to a simmer, cover and cook until the quinoa turns translucent, about 15 minutes. (I didn’t let it cook that long so the quinoa still had a tiny bit of crunch, and it was so good. Just keep tasting it until you like the texture)

Shred the chicken with your fingers or a fork.

Stir the chicken, olives and pepper into the stew and simmer, uncovered, to heat, about 5 minutes.

Stir in parsley and serve.

This recipe might seem daunting, and it might be a two-person job, but it really wasn’t difficult. Using the squash from Walmart made it less time consuming but overall it took almost an hour to prepare from start to finish. It was worth it, though. My husband had never had quinoa and was really suspicious of it, but he said this is now one of his favorite meals. Plus, it made a TON so we’ll have leftovers for nights that we’re in a rush. Success.